Ross Rifle Mk II 5*

[Juno63]

Don't be affraid to shoot your Ross, they are a joy at the range!

[Cosine26]

I have no plans for the disposition of either the Mk II 5* rifle or the Dupuis correspondence.
The rifle is not of museum quality and is not rare enough to command a premium priced as a collectable. It is, however, an artifact of another time and another place when the youth of Canada ventured forth to serve “King and Country” in an honorable fashion. The rifle perhaps, by virtue of the “CEF” markings, reached the Salisbury Plains where it served the purpose of training Canadian troops who went on to serve and perhaps die along the Somme or at Passchendaele. Perhaps some even returned to Canada and settled into civilian life after the Great War. How this rifle returned to North America (indeed if it even left) and its subsequent journey from that time to the time I picked it up in NY in the early 70’s will always remain a mystery. From its condition, I can say that it was definitely not a “safe” queen. I do have several Kerr slings but do not know if they are the correct ones.
I fired the rifle with some surplus WRA .303 ammo many years ago, perhaps about 3 or 4, I do not remember. There was no ill effect.
I do not intend to “part the rifle out”. I could not realize more than $50 for all of the parts due to their condition and I would destroy an irrecoverable artifact. There will never be more Ross Mk II 5* rifles and I would suppose that many of the M1905 Rosses have already been destroyed or disposed of. I know that many of the US surplus rifles and German captured rifles have been converted into sporters and I would believe that many of the Rosses were also. I think that it would be wrong to destroy such an artifact.
My humble opinion

[Oldguncrank]

I have been shooting Rosses for 50 years and never had a problem vis-a vis safety. If you diligently work at it hard enough you can get the bolt head reversed in a MkIII or an M-10 Then if you ram the bolt home hard enough on a partially chambered cartridge you can achieve well deserved and spectacular results. However no rifleman with any feel or skills would do such a thing. I have much original correspondence to My Dad from Herb Cox wherein he reported on "barn burner" loads and only succeded in breaking the ectractor on his M-10 with a blown primer at proof plus loads. Shoot on but pay attention!

[boltman]

I too am am fan of Ross rifles and had one to the range just a couple of months ago. It was a M1905 model in fact. I have also survived every Ross rifle I have fired. And has been pointed out, the stuff about bolt blowback was never even associated with this model. The model involved, the MkIII is interesting enough one of the strongest actions out there. Take a peek at E.C. Crossman's attempts to destroy one nearly 100 years ago and you will have a sense of how strong these actions are. You can view a copy of this article by going to rossrifle.com and click on the article tab. The .280 Ross case is similiar in capacity to the 7mm magnum. Basically, Crossman filled the entire case with pistol powder (and tapped it down several times so he could fit more in) and then he greased the case and fired the rifle (not from the shoulder!). He couldn't get the action to blow. (Do not try this at home!). I sometimes receive the question from Ross novices wondering if possibly their bolt has been flipped the wrong way and not closing as it should. Aside from passing on the typical advice that when the bolt head has been flipped the bolt slides in the action with much resistance, as the owner of several MkIII/M10's, I will say that when one is closing the action, it is easy enough to watch the bolt head pivot into the receiver lugs as the action is fully closed. This would not be close to possible with a bolt that has had the bolt head flipped the wrong way.

[chislerboy]

The CEF 15 on the weapon mentioned above "Canadian Expeditionary Force 1915" NOT 15th Batt. You will find "14" and rarely "16". My Ross (ex-Canadian War Museum) an M.1910 is clearly regimentally stamped on right side butt "50 Inf. Canadians" (Calgary). Time to put an end to the belief that this CEF15 is a unit mark. This foolishness started back in the late 1960s!